Olli Keränen works by observing the variable uses of urban spaces. As well as working on site-specific installations, he also uses moving image; he creates video works that together with the other fragments form a whole.

In his exhibition TANSTAAFL the video work is realized in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Iiris Raipala and cinematographer and editor Sakari Luhtala as well as musician Jaakko Kestilä (Imatran Voima) who has composed the score.

When working with different medias in order to produce works, Keränen is after making association between very loosely connected objects and moving image. The pieces in his works are often connected by a certain fragmentednature in which he deals with occurrences in the city. His works address the happenings and ways of life underneath the modern cities shiny and efficient surface.

The title of the exhibition is an acronym that refers to the sentence “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” The term is used widely for a variety of occasions. Economists use the acronym to describe the dispersion of assets in today’s society. They use it to illustrate the idea that when something is free or surprisingly low in price, it never truly is, and that some members of society are always left to pay the bill in the end.

Voltaire: Candide

“There is a chain of events in this best of all possible worlds; for if you had not been turned out of a beautiful mansion at the point of a jackboot for the love of Lady Cunégonde, if you had not been involved in the Inquisition, and had not wandered over America on foot, and had not struck the Baron with your sword, and lost all those sheep you brought from Eldorado, you would not be here eating candied fruit and pistachio nuts”

“That´s true enough,” said Candide; “but we must go and work in the garden.”

Olli Keränen wishes to thank all the people who made this exhibition possible: